About Prevention

The thought of getting cancer is scary. You may believe it’s a matter of bad luck or bad genes, and that there’s not much you can do to protect yourself. That’s not true! The truth is many factors play a role in whether we get cancer.

Research suggests that only 5 to 10% of cancers run in families. Some factors, like age, are outside our control, and some we just don’t know about yet.

The really good news is that up to 45% of cancer in Alberta is linked to factors we can control.

So while it’s not possible to completely prevent getting cancer, there are many proven things we can do to greatly reduce our risk. This is what cancer prevention is all about.

Preventing cancer doesn’t happen overnight and it can’t be done alone. Working together we can prevent many cancers by: